Pennsylvania State Police urge feds to drop discrimination lawsuit against them

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan on Wednesday implored the federal government to withdraw a lawsuit filed this week that alleges the physical fitness test given to applicants for entry-level state trooper positions has led to illegal employment discrimination against women.

“I am extremely disappointed in the decision of the U.S. Department of Justice to file suit in an attempt to force PSP to lower the standards of its Physical Readiness Test,” Noonan said, adding that “we should not be bullied into lowering our standards for any applicants.”

In the 10-page suit filed in Harrisburg federal court Tuesday, which names both Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State Police as defendants, the Justice Department said it’s seeking to halt an ongoing selection process instituted in 2003 that, it argues, violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by “failing to hire women for entry-level trooper positions with (Pennsylvania State Police) on an equal basis as men.”

According to the lawsuit, between 2003 and 2008, 94 percent of male applicants passed the PSP-administered physical fitness test (PFT), while only 71 percent of female applicants passed the PFT — a “statistically significant” gap, the suit states. The PFT at that time consisted of a 300-meter run, sit-ups, push-ups, a vertical jump and a 1.5-mile run with cut-off scores for each element of the test, and if an applicant did not meet that score for any one of the five elements, they failed the PFT, according to the suit.

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In 2009, the suit states, state police altered the PFT, adding new, unspecified elements, and between 2009 and 2012, 98 percent of male applicants passed the updated PFT, while only 72 percent of female applicants passed the test.

“If, between 2003 and 2012, female applicants had passed the 2003 PFT and 2009 PFT at the same rate as male applicants, approximately 119 additional women would have been available for further consideration for the position of entry-level trooper, resulting in approximately 45 additional women being hired as entry-level troopers,” the suit alleges.

On Wednesday, Noonan countered that “to lower the physical fitness standards for applicants would be insulting to those men and women who already strove to achieve those standards and, more importantly, would endanger current and future troopers, the residents of Pennsylvania and all individuals served by the distinguished men and women of the Pennsylvania State Police.”

According to state police, the current standards for recruits taking the physical test include running 300 meters in 77 seconds, doing 13 pushups in no set time limit, making a 14-inch vertical jump and running 1.5 miles in 17 minutes and 48 seconds.

“The Pennsylvania State Police is committed to hiring the best qualified applicants regardless of gender — every applicant must be physically prepared to perform the duties of a trooper,” the department said in a statement.

The Physical Readiness Test “was developed and validated by an independent party after performing a job task analysis, defining tasks that required physical abilities to perform them, and defining skills and abilities to do job tasks,” PSP said. “Prior to implementation, the test was further refined to specifically avoid disparate impact on females.”

On Wednesday, Noonan urged the Justice Department to reconsider the lawsuit and “hastily withdraw (it) before both parties are forced to expend an extraordinary amount of resources, at the expense of all taxpayers in the United States.”

In addition to eliminating what it describes as PSP’s “discriminatory employment practices against women based on their sex,” the lawsuit seeks “make-whole relief” — including back pay, offers of employment, retroactive seniority and other benefits — to women who have “suffered losses or will suffer losses” as a result of such alleged discrimination.